American Samoa
general assessment: NA
domestic: good telex, telegraph, facsimile and cellular telephone
services; domestic satellite system with 1 Comsat earth station
international: country code - 1-684; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)
Andorra
general assessment: NA
domestic: modern system with microwave radio relay connections
between exchanges
international: country code - 376; landline circuits to France and
Spain
Angola
general assessment: telephone service limited mostly to
government and business use; HF radiotelephone used extensively for
military links
domestic: limited system of wire, microwave radio relay, and
tropospheric scatter
international: country code - 244; satellite earth stations - 2
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC)
provides connectivity to Europe and Asia
Anguilla
general assessment: NA
domestic: modern internal telephone system
international: country code - 1-264; microwave radio relay to island
of Saint Martin (Guadeloupe and Netherlands Antilles)
Antarctica
general assessment: local systems at some research
stations
domestic: NA
international: country code - 672; via satellite (mobile Inmarsat
and Iridium system) from some research stations
Antigua and Barbuda
general assessment: NA
domestic: good automatic telephone system
international: country code - 1-268; 1 coaxial submarine cable;
satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); tropospheric
scatter to Saba (Netherlands Antilles) and Guadeloupe
Argentina
general assessment: by opening the telecommunications
market to competition and foreign investment with the
"Telecommunications Liberalization Plan of 1998," Argentina
encouraged the growth of modern telecommunication technology;
fiber-optic cable trunk lines are being installed between all major
cities; the major networks are entirely digital and the availability
of telephone service is being improved; however, telephone density
is presently minimal, and making telephone service universally
available will take time
domestic: microwave radio relay, fiber-optic cable, and a domestic
satellite system with 40 earth stations serve the trunk network;
more than 110,000 pay telephones are installed and mobile telephone
use is rapidly expanding
international: country code - 54; satellite earth stations - 8
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); Atlantis II and Unisur submarine cables;
two international gateways near Buenos Aires (1999)
Armenia
general assessment: system inadequate; now 90% privately
owned and undergoing modernization and expansion
domestic: the majority of subscribers and the most modern equipment
are in Yerevan (this includes paging and mobile cellular service)
international: country code - 374; Yerevan is connected to the
Trans-Asia-Europe fiber-optic cable through Iran; additional
international service is available by microwave radio relay and
landline connections to the other countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States and through the Moscow international switch and
by satellite to the rest of the world; satellite earth stations - 1
Intelsat (2000)
Aruba
general assessment: NA
domestic: more than adequate
international: country code - 297; 1 submarine cable to Sint Maarten
(Netherlands Antilles); extensive interisland microwave radio relay
links
Australia
general assessment: excellent domestic and international
service
domestic: domestic satellite system; much use of radiotelephone in
areas of low population density; rapid growth of mobile cellular
telephones
international: country code - 61; submarine cables to New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia; satellite earth stations - 10
Intelsat (4 Indian Ocean and 6 Pacific Ocean), 2 Inmarsat (Indian
and Pacific Ocean regions) (1998)